Our Guest Speaker will be Rabbi Deborah Prinz, author of "On the Chocolate Trail, a Delicious Adventure Connecting Jews, Religions, History, Travel, Rituals and Recipes to the Magic of Cacao" (2nd Edition, Jewish Lights, 2017).
Chocolate migrated with Sephardi Jews in the early days of European contact with the New World food. As Spanish and Portuguese Jews sought refuge from the broad-reaching perils of the Inquisition, some packed with them new chocolate tastes, techniques, and opportunities, thereby supplying and extending chocolate to larger markets.
Later, twentieth century Jewish emigrants transferred their businesses for eating chocolate from one location to another. The background of Israel's Elite Chocolate and the iconic chocolate company, Barton's Bonbonniere, is also featured.
Rabbi Deborah R. Prinz lectures about chocolate and religions around the world. A regular contributor to the Huffington Post, the Daily Forward, and elsewhere on the topic of chocolate, she has presented in five countries at chocolate festivals, libraries, museums, culinary events, and congregations.
She co-curates "Jews on the Chocolate Trail", a traveling exhibit created for the Herbert and Eileen Bernard Museum of Temple Emanu-El, New York City, on display October 2017–February 2018. Also, she created the blog "On the Chocolate Trail" (visit www.onthechocolatetrail.org).
Rabbi Prinz has held a number of leadership positions in the national and regional Reform movement, having recently served the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) as Director of Program and Member Services and the Director of the Joint Commission on Rabbinic Mentoring. She currently mentors through the Mayerson program at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). She was also a Senior Fellow at HUC-JIR's Center for the Study of Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems (2015-2016).
She has consulted for HUC-JIR, the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), and other organizations. She was honored to conduct the worship services at regional and national biennials of the URJ. Elected by her colleagues, Rabbi Prinz held each office of the Board of the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis and assumed its presidency in 2005.
The Rabbi Emerita of Temple Adat Shalom, San Diego County, California, she held the position of Senior Rabbi for almost twenty years. Prior to that she was, for seven years, the Rabbi of a synagogue in Bergen County, New Jersey, and also the Assistant Rabbi of Central Synagogue in Manhattan. She has delivered many talks to community organizations.
During her almost thirty years in congregational work, Rabbi Prinz contributed to the local Jewish community as well. She held all offices of the Executive Committee, including President, of the San Diego Rabbinical Association. In her position as a member of the Steering Committee of the United Jewish Federation's Task Force on Jewish Continuity and Co-Chair of the Interfaith Committee, she was instrumental in bringing the Pathways program (outreach to interfaith children and families) to San Diego.
In 1991, she was named "Woman of the Year" by Brandeis University National Women's Committee. Together with other community leaders, she successfully worked to change the calendar of the Poway Unified School District to avoid the conflict of the first day of school falling on Rosh Hashanah. Along with an Episcopal colleague in Teaneck, she developed an interfaith dialogue program which included an interfaith tour to Israel. Temple Adat Shalom, under her leadership, participated in a dialogue with the Lutheran Church of the Incarnation of Poway and with Chabad of Rancho Bernardo. She has led many trips to Israel.
The author of several articles, she has published in scholarly, professional and popular journals such as the CCAR Journal, the Hebrew Union College Annual, Reform Judaism Magazine, and the CCAR Yearbook. Articles and blogs about and interviews of Rabbi Prinz have appeared in the national and local media.
Rabbi Prinz is married to Rabbi Mark Hurvitz and is the proud mother of Avigail, Sarah, Noam & Rachel. She is also the amazed grandmother of Amiel, Pele, Ziv, and Lior.
There is a $5 fee to attend. Chocolate samples will be served! Please RSVP to Hadassah: Phone (513) 821-6157 or Email cincinnati@hadassah.org.
Rabbi Deborah Prinz
